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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

So as some of you may have noticed I've kindve been afk these past 2 weeks.
Yes i just started university again but im glad to say im back in action!
Classes have started up and now im roaring to go.

Thankfully I've managed to still find the time to keep up to date with the latest dota action!
So without further do let me get you guys back in the loop!

So here's an awesome game played between Vigoss and PGG played in a russian tournament called SSG

Quick Analysis
Looking at your bans we see PGG and Vigoss both removing strong trilaners as well as strong turtling hero's.
The OD ban could've been the result of Vigoss wanting to pick slardar and having no hero's with lots of inteligence and combined with the fact that PGG's team had yet to choose a carry and solo hero they banned OD.
Now Vigoss's team has -Armour from both Slardar and Shadow Fiend while scourge has it in the form of Razor's ulty and Venge's scream.

Lane wise sentinel had very strong lanes and abused that early game advantage throughout the game.
All in all I'd recomend this game to anyone wanting to see Vigoss in action and make sure to check out his awesome clockwork!

So if you'll excuse me Ive got some catching up on some blogs to do :P

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Introducing the legendary captain of FTD and LGD.sGty whos now became a caster and commentator shortly after his retirement from competitive DotA. He has released a series of Chinese commentary videos that were highly regarded, not only for the level of insight provided, but also due to the entertaining nature of his ramblings and stories about the competitive scene.

Now thanks to CtChocula we're able to view these vidios with english subtitles(YAY) and he's in the progress of translating more of them. For now hes sub'd 2009's second episode where 2009 analyses a very popular ADC match between Nirvana.cn and Scythe.SG. but he does this in a very unique way where he commentates from Nirvana's perspective with special attention been given to YHS Shadow fiend.

Part one of the series can be found below then you can just follow the youtube links to the rest of the videos. The only sad thing about these Videos is that the highest rez you can take it to is 380pp :/
So it is recomended to watch it in small screen!

In other personal news I'm planning on taking the day off tomorrow and I'm going with a friend of mine to an internet cafe to lan DotA :D
Even though yes I do have it at home its just something about that lan atmosphere which makes it addictive. Especially when you get to play against other people at the same Internet Cafe but they don't know you're there?
It's the most hilarious thing in the world to hear them raging while you sitting in your little corner owning them :)

Monday, February 7, 2011

Blizzard has released a new Patch for W3:TFT.
BUT BE WARNED DO NOT UPDATE TO THIS NEW PATCH YET. ITS STILL IN TESTING.
Because if you upgrade you will be unable to view replays from 1.24e and yes blog readers,THATS BAD.

Warcraft III patch 1.25 is now available on the PTR. If you'd like to help us test out this patch and provide feedback, open up the game client and select the "Westfall (ClassicBeta)" gateway to begin downloading the latest patch. Once the download is complete, restart the game, log into Westfall, and you're set. (To resume playing on live servers, simply select your regular gateway and you will be reverted to the retail version of the game.)

For information on what's changed, be sure to check out the PTR patch notes listed below (we are aware the patch notes are not currently available in the patch details itself).

Warcraft PTR Patch 1.25

Balance Changes

Humans

Guard Tower Armor type changed to Fortified

Siege Engine Level increased from 2 to 3

Rifleman HP increased from 505 to 535

Night Elves

Warden Shadow Strike mana cost increased from 65 to 75

Druid of the Talon Faerie Fire duration decreased from 120 to 90

Orcs

Blade master Wind Walk duration reduced from 20/40/60 to 20/35/50

Raider Ensnare Cooldown increased from 12 to 16

Spirit Wolf Rank 1 Wolf Level decreased from 3 to 2

Items

Ivory Tower gold cost increased from 30 to 40

Tome of Experience now gives Heroes 100 experience points, down from 150

Orb of Venom poison duration decreased from 8 to 6

Fixes

Warcraft III will now write its registry keys on launch.

Widescreen (stretched) resolutions should now be available in the Video options.

You can now purchase items from shops while Hexed.

Scroll of Town Portal will no longer be consumed when casting fails when used at the same time that your Hero is Hexed.

Hex will no longer extend the duration of Metamorphosis.

Hex will no longer disable mana or health regeneration of Heroes.

Wisps Detonate ability will no longer drain mana from Heroes while under the effects of Potion of Invulnerability.

Fixed an issue where players were able to ally with opponents when alliances were locked ("share hack").

A gold exploit with buildings has been fixed.

My thoughts on the new version :
I enjoy the fact that they've fixed the share hack and gold exploit as I found many people were abusing them online.
I don't quite agree with making the towers armour fortified. This will nerf NE vs Humans so badly as humans could just tower rush them and theres nothing the DH/Archer could do to stop it.
I don't quite understand how Hero's are able to buy items from shops while sheeped. Thats just ridiculous.Goblin sapper shouldn't get any effect from speed scroll.And for those of you who never knew how to do it manually one of the nicest changes to date is"Widescreen (stretched) resolutions should now be available in the Video options."

Sunday, February 6, 2011

A couple of months ago Valve did a Q&A for DotA 2. Below I've just pasted the Q&A taken from the DotA2 website.

Q: Is there reconnect support for DotA 2?(by Vanes-UT)
A: This was actually one of the very first things we added early on, before the game was stable, in order to help with testing. You’ll also be able to have a friend of similar skill level substitute for you in case you have to leave. Players that want to improve their reputation in the game and community will also be able to help out by joining ongoing games that are missing players.Q: Can I still play with my friends from America even though I am European?(by Adam Mosley)
A: Yes, a lot of people have friends in different regions and we want to allow them to easily interact. One of the things that makes DotA special is how big the community is, so we will do our best to make it easy to connect and communicate with one another.Q: How are you going to handle delay and lag between players?(by Alex)
A: This is something we are putting a lot of time and resources into. Minimizing delay to servers, along with optimizing networking code, is very important to being able to enjoy DotA on both a casual and competitive level. We’re expanding the Steam infrastructure around the world so the matchmaking service for DotA 2 is able to provide the lowest possible ping wherever you are playing. There will also be some uniquely located servers that are optimized regionally for handling longer distance matches.Q: What kind of hardware requirements will the game have?(by S.Hong)
A: We don’t have an official minimum spec just yet. The goal is to make sure that people with older computers and the PCs at LAN centers will be able to support the game, while also allowing for newer computers to scale well.Q: I heard there was going to be an AI feature for when a player leaves. Is there going to be an option to take direct control of the hero?(by Stephen)
A: The AI features will be optional to the players in the game. You can have teammates use it, send it to the base, or give it AI modes and behaviors to follow.Q: Will there be anything like the AI maps in DotA or a “training mode” with difficulty levels?(by L.Pham)
A: Yes there will be bot support if you just want to play by yourself, or you can create a party of friends and fill the rest of the slots with bots. There are a variety of different settings you can use in order to configure the bots, ranging from selectable difficulty levels to specific behaviors that you want to practice against. For example, if you want to practice your lane control, you could configure the bots to be stronger at denying, last hitting, and harassing. We’ll also have some specially crafted challenge scenarios, similar to things like Pudge Wars, which I’ll elaborate on in the future.Q: Will the replay system allow me to move freely backwards and forwards in time rather than having to watch a whole replay?(by Luciando)
A: You’ll be able to jump around to any point in the replay, add bookmarks for easy referencing, view detailed stats and graphs while the game is going, and watch through a specific player’s view (with regards to their camera movement). You’ll also be able to watch replays with friends if you want to review a game or learn from your mistakes. To aid videomakers, the replay system will have flexible camera angle and speed controls. There will also be a bunch of commentating and editing features you can add to your replays.Q: Don’t you think you should make a lot of changes to the gameplay?(by Robert)
A: Significant changes would not necessarily make it a better game. There are countless features we are building around the game that will make the experience a much better one. The gameplay itself, though, has always evolved step by step, and it will continue with that methodology. We consider this a long term project, in the same way DotA has always been. We want to provide a quality experience and not just change for the sake of change. You’ll naturally see additions and improvements to the game as time passes, but it would be a natural progression aimed at improving the game for the players and not for other arbitrary reasons. Valve and I strongly believe that the player focused development process the game has gone through is what will allow us to continue making the best decisions with regards to where we spend our development time.Q: Can you spectate an already ongoing DotA 2 game?(by Valo)
A: A lot of the game will be built around spectating and shoutcasting support. You will be able to join most ongoing games (unless the players marked it as private) and just watch them. You can join a game your friend is in, see what your favorite clan is doing, or simply pick a skill level and a hero you like and it will find you one to watch. We also have a system in place that automatically distributes the load to multiple servers so that the game itself won’t be affected by users joining to spectate. Our distribution network will allow us to support any number of users that want to watch, by dynamically assigning more servers to the task. There will also be special tags and search options to help you find live or old shoutcasted games. Shoutcasters will be able to operate as directors, so anyone watching will have his camera looking at the same things the shoutcaster is viewing. There is also an optional anti-cheat mechanism built in so that the game you are spectating can be time delayed by any amount of time to reduce potential abuse.Q: Will you keep loyal to casting times like Torrent and will it still be possible to do the advanced tricks, like animation canceling, fog of war tricks we’ve learned, etc?(by Lycan)
A: Yes, those mechanics are implemented. They are a very integral part of the game and it wouldn’t feel the same without them.Q: How will we manage replay files?(by Nikos)
A: They will be automatically saved with your identity online utilizing the Steam Cloud storage system, so you don’t have to worry about losing them. You’ll be able to use the replay browser tools to search, sort, tag, rank, and favorite them. Q: Are you going to work on DotA after DotA 2 is released?(by Jack Lee)
A: I plan to keep DotA updated for as long as the community wants. That being said though, I think that DotA 2 represents the long term future for the game. Q: How will development change with regards to your role, current beta testers, community feedback, etc?(by Basel)
A: All that stuff will remain the same, except that now I also get to work with the developers at Valve. All of our current playtesters and even contributors like Kunkka are helping. One of the most important things for me has always been getting input from the community. There will be a lot of opportunities, throughout the next year, to give your feedback on all the things we are working on, ranging from features to visuals.Q: Are the upgraded graphics going to be distracting? New graphics are great, but when there’s too much, you can’t see what’s going on anymore.(by Lycan)
A: Gameplay is definitely the most important aspect, everyone on the team understands this concern. The number one priority is making sure players can quickly and easily tell what’s happening on the screen at all times. Fine tuning the right visual balance with each ability, effect, hero, etc., will be an ongoing process as the game is playtested and we get your feedback. A clean and understandable visual representation of the action is important to everyone from experienced players, spectators, to new players.Q: Will I be able to help test DotA 2?(by Sing Liu)
A: There will certainly be an opportunity to get involved with beta testing DotA 2 and help us with your feedback. We’ll release more information about how to sign up in the future.Q: Are you going to do anything to make it easier for new players to get into the game and feel welcome?(by Arvin)
A: Some of what makes it hard, in current DotA, stems from the lack of services around the game that can help foster a better relationship between players and that it’s hard for players to be matched up with equally skilled allies and opponents. Things like tutorials, matchmaking, AI bots, identity, coaching, and community contribution will go a long way to making it easier for new players to fit in.Q: What hotkey setup will exist in DotA 2?(by Stany Kaff)

A: We have a few default templates that cover the most popular configurations, but you’ll also be able to fully customize them to your liking. You can customize it on a global level or on a per hero basis if you choose. The hotkey configuration will include everything, not just heroes and items, but also how you navigate in the game, control the camera, autocast, set control groups, etc. Your settings are saved to your identity online, so if you go to a LAN center you will not have to reconfigure your keys.

They also released images of the hero's and I have to say they look AMAZING!

More info and news can also be found on the www.Dota2.com website!
I personally can't wait for Valve to release it and I've heard rumours of a possible 2011 release...
What this means for my studies however can't be good :P

I'd also like to thank you all for the support you're showing my Blog it's appreciated, and if there's anything you'd like me to look at specifically you have but to ask!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

DTS vs NordicE-Sports
This is just a quicklink to an Awesome game I've just watched featuring DTS.
Now for those of you that don't know DTS is a Russian team which was Very famous in 6.48b version where they played a superb ganging style of Dota.
On their team they feature well know players such as NS,Light and Dread.
This is also the very same clan Loda was part of when he played Dota.

This is a 6.69c map version 1.24.

Why watch this game :
1)Night Stalker is pickeD!
2)Very cool Trilane on sentinel side with Visage/Cm/Vs in a lane.
3)Finally Storm spirit is used again :D

This game was highly enjoyable & entertaining to watch as well as having some awesome fighting sequences.

In other news I just finished an inhouse game with 9 other friends of mine, and all i can say is that after that game I feel i have a HUGE shell on my back because of the amount of Turtling we did :D
For those of you who don't know turtling is the art of barricading your enemy outside your base and denying him entry while you farm up for an advantage lategame.
But in the end my Visage won us the game :D(And my friends Phantom Lancer might've helped)

Defense of the Ancients pits two teams of players against each other: the Sentinel and the Scourge each of whom has a base. Each base is defended by towers and waves of units which guard the main paths leading to their base. In the center of each base is the Ancient which has to be destroyed in order to win the game.

Each human player is given the control of a Hero, a special unit with unique abilities (which they can choose from a hero pool of over 100+Heros) using which they will have to advance through the game. Numerous number of Items are available for purchasing in the game which will make their characters more powerful.

The enemy units (creeps / enemy heroes) can be slayed in the game in order to gain experience and gold. Gaining of experience will eventually lead to leveling up of your Hero which will allow you to unlock more abilities. The gold will help you in forging your items.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

My first blog post and what a time to post it! The first thing you'll learn about my blog posts is that my command of the English language is nothing at all compared to my skill in Dota, nor the size of my Ego. So forgive my further bloggings and try appreciate the content.

With this blog I'm going to be commentating alot on what is going on in the International scene in terms of hero trends as well as balance discussion's. I'll be analyzing games and try to share my views on a game. I'll also be talking about my personal Dota life and anything i think is related to making you,the reader, a better Dota player.

I aim for this also to be a place of indepth discussion where you can share your views on a game and SHARE your knowledge and opinions :)

Because if theres one thing my tour of Europe has taught me is this
"It's not wrong, it's just different."